PANASONIC ELUGA U NOW IN INDIA

PANASONIC ELUGA U NOW IN INDIA

Panasonic launched the Eluga series back in 2012 with Eluga DL1 and Eluga Power. The sales were targeted for European markets.

Panasonic launched the Eluga series back in 2012 with Eluga DL1 and Eluga Power. The sales were targeted for European markets. Now that Panasonic’s global headquarters for its global smartphone business reside here in India, it seems only fair that the brand is trying to revive its Eluga series in India through its latest smartphone release – the Eluga U.

Also, India has been more of a heaven and a redemption centre for many smartphone companies with some of them managing to perform exceedingly well. However, this accounts to fierce competition which requires consistent performances from the brand. Let’s take a look whether the Eluga U has got what it takes to thrive in the Indian market.

Design

Taking cues from the Google Nexus 4, the Eluga U sports rounded edges and a textured back panel. The glassy finish of the device is extremely deceptive and in a good way. The phone’s body is actually plastic. Unlike the Nexus 4, the Panasonic Eluga U is stretched vertically and not horizontally, all credits to its 5 inch display. At 141 g the device feels very light. The power button is placed on the top right edge and takes effort to reach. Just below the power button are two differently angled volume rockers. There’s an audio jack on the top edge and a micro USB port and microphone on the bottom one. The display is flanked on top by a notification LED, light sensor, front cam and earpiece. On the bottom is the classic three capacitive keys navigation. The back panel houses the primary camera and the loudspeakers along with the branding.

Specs and Features

Powered by a 1.2 GHz quad core Snapdragon 400 processor with integrated Adreno 305 graphics, the Eluga U carries 2 GB of RAM for smooth run of apps. The rear camera of the device capture images at an impressive 13 megapixels and comes with a flash. The camera package is completed by a 3 megapixels front camera. The handset comes with an inbuilt memory of 16 GB which can be expanded up to 32 GB via external microSD card.

On the connectivity front, the Panasonic Eluga U offers an availability of two SIM cards, both 3G. There is no support for 4G LTE. Compliant with the most recent version of Bluetooth 4.0, the Eluga U is capable of connecting to Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n networks.

The display of the device spans 5 inches with a resolution of 720x1080 pixels and is cosseted by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Good color saturation and warm tone of the screen increase text readability. However, the highly reflective screen reduces sunlight readability and affects viewing angles.

Software and Performance

Running on Android 4.4.2 KitKat, the Eluga U comes with Panasonic’s Fit Home UI. The UI has quite distinctive features and it’s a matter of choice whether one likes it or not. The skin is removable and you can switch to the regular KitKat UI.

A little heating issue and random rebooting affect the performance benchmarks of the phone. However, the phone doesn’t lag at all.